The local population of greylag geese at Falmer fluctuates. Generally there is a small flock on the pond, but most of them are not permanent residents. The flock was there today, and for once I paid them particular attention.

Four of the flock of greylag geese

A loose gaggle of greylag geese

Honking Greylag

Mirror Mirror?

The Greylag Stare

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.

This is something of a return to some of the more regular species that abound at this time of year. Birds are getting ready for nesting and mating, and – common species at least – are very easy to see.

The crows are busy gathering nesting material.

The blackbirds are taking to the rooftops…

The robins are everywhere. This one was in a small wooded area near Falmer Pond. Nice early morning sunshine.

Possibly my favourite of the early birds, was this male mallard quietly sitting on the church wall. It took me an age to get round to the best angle, but here it is.

The final shot was taken at lunchtime, when the light was less helpful. It made a change to see a herring gull doing nothing much at all.

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.

I’ll put a couple of wildlife shots at the end of the blog, but I’ve been spending more time taking dodgy woodland photos. I was better prepared today, and actually had a tripod with me. This certainly makes a big difference and will open up more possibilities. I have plans, but am not going to reveal them yet. Suffice to say, there are some interesting sections in the 7DII user guide which are going to come in handy.

Anyway today, it was basic stuff. Woodland path. Tripod and big tree in the centre of the shot. This is what it starts off looking like. Nothing fancy here, just a basic shot.

The I started playing around with the zoom. The tripod meant I could concentrate on how I was using the camera and the differences between fast/slow, pause/zoom, zoom/pause and so on. Counter-intuitive though it may be, the fastest zoom doesn’t produce the greatest blur. I suppose that should be obvious, but now at least I know for sure.

Here’s another pair, the second one being a steady zoom that moved for the whole period the shutter was open. As you can see, the effect is extreme.

I also played around with some proper woodland photography.

As for wildlife, I took this shot of a robin earlier in the week but didn’t use it in the Cormorant post. I like it too much to waste it though.

Robin on a brick wall

And the final shot is one from this morning… one of the local rodents.

Rat Portrait-style

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.